A total of 1,931 donors helped raise $2.9 million, marking another powerful demonstration of the Cardinal spirit and a fifth consecutive year of record-breaking engagement across all 50 states.

Timed to energize UofL’s Homecoming week, Raise Some L spanned 1,798 minutes, in honor of the university’s founding year, and celebrated the many ways philanthropy transforms lives across campus and beyond.

“Because of your generosity, we continue to move forward together,” said University of Louisville President Gerry Bradley. “Each gift, no matter the size, helps us create new opportunities for our students, faculty, staff, researchers, patients and the entire Cardinal community. We are deeply grateful to all who supported this effort.”

Throughout the day, supporters rallied behind their favorite programs, schools and causes, amplifying their impact through social media advocacy, challenges and matching gifts. The campaign also highlighted several major commitments and gifts that will have an immediate and lasting effect across the university, including:

• Anonymous – A transformational $500,000 commitment over the next five years to establish two Student Success Funds supporting undergraduate and medical students in financial need.
• Phoenix Controls – An in-kind gift valued at $382,258 to enhance the new Applied Engineering program with advanced technology and hands-on learning tools.
• SEW-EURODRIVE – An in-kind gift valued at $358,000 to further support the Applied Engineering program.
• Suraj and Rachel Alexander – A $100,000 gift establishing a Centennial Scholarship Fund within the J.B. Speed School of Engineering, along with a $50,000 planned gift to sustain the school’s mission.
• Autodesk – A $75,000 contribution in support of cutting-edge technologies for the Applied Engineering program.
• St. James Court Neighborhood Association – A renewed $74,375 commitment to benefit the Hite Art Institute, including a new scholarship honoring Bill Holladay, Jr.
• Lyle and Linda Graham – A $50,000 contribution to the Graham Student Philanthropy Endowed Fund and an additional $5,000 to the Graham Math Scholars Program.
• Anonymous Planned Gift – A $50,000 commitment to advance the J.B. Speed School of Engineering.
• Genentech, Inc. – A $43,421 gift to the School of Public Health & Information Sciences to support future health leaders.
• Dr. Paul Kelty – A $25,000 pledge to the Golden Alumni Scholarship at the Speed School of Engineering.
• Anonymous Gift – A $12,500 matching gift to expand resources for the UofL Writing, Editing, and Publishing Lab.

“Each year, the Cardinal community shows what’s possible when we come together with purpose,” said Vice President for Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement Jim Broschart. “These results reflect the power of collective generosity and the shared belief in UofL’s mission to make a difference in Louisville and around the world.”

While Raise Some L has concluded, there’s still time to make an impact. Gifts of any size continue to help strengthen programs and expand opportunities across the university. To learn more or contribute, visit .

This celebration of generosity spans 1,798 minutes, a tribute to UofL’s founding year, and invites Cardinals everywhere to come together in support of the university they love.

Timed to energize Homecoming week, Raise Some L rallies the Cardinal community around the initiatives, programs and people shaping UofL’s future.

“Your support of the UofL family ignites transformative opportunities for our students, patients and community. It empowers the next generation of Cardinals to reach their full potential,” said President Gerry Bradley. “We are building a brighter tomorrow and moving forward together.”

Recent Major Gifts and Commitments

This year’s Raise Some L celebration has already been bolstered by several significant gifts and commitments that will make an immediate and lasting impact across the University of Louisville. Highlights include:

• Anonymous –��Inspired by the legacy of two strong women who championed education and opportunity for themselves and their children, a gift of $500,000 to the University of Louisville was made by a family of first-generation immigrants who began their American journey with hope, determination, and a deep belief in the power of learning. This investment creates a safety net for students, helping cover essential needs like housing, food, and childcare, so they can focus on achieving their degrees and building brighter futures. Their story is one of perseverance, gratitude, and a shared belief that education transforms lives.

• Phoenix Controls – An in-kind gift valued at $382,258 to enhance the new program, providing state-of-the-art technology and resources for hands-on learning.

• SEW-EURODRIVE – An in-kind gift valued at $358,000 to support the program, providing state-of-the-art technology and resources for hands-on learning.
• Suraj and Rachel Alexander – A $100,000 gift establishing a new Centennial Scholarship fund within the to support student opportunity and innovation, complemented by a $50,000 planned gift to sustain and advance the Speed School’s mission for years to come.
• Autodesk – $75,000 in support of state-of-the-art technologies and resources for the J.B. Speed School’s program.
• St. James Court Neighborhood Association – A renewed commitment totaling $74,375 to benefit the , including the establishment of the St. James Court Neighborhood Association Scholarship Honoring Bill Holladay, Jr.,��to support students pursuing art and design.
• Lyle and Linda Graham – A $50,000 contribution to the Graham Student Philanthropy Endowed Fund and an additional $5,000 gift to the Graham Math Scholars Program, continuing their long-standing support for student engagement and success.
• Anonymous Planned Gift to the Speed School – A planned commitment valued at $50,000 to advance the mission and programs of the J.B. Speed School of Engineering.
• Genentech, Inc. –A gift of $43,421 to the . Genentech is a pioneering biotechnology company committed to innovation, equity, and health. This gift helps prepare the next generation of leaders to tackle the world’s most pressing health challenges.
• Dr. Paul Kelty – A $25,000 pledge to the Golden Alumni Scholarship at the J.B. Speed School of Engineering. (Securities transfer processed by Baird Financial.)
• Anonymous Gift – A $12,500 matching gift to the UofL Writing, Editing and Publishing Lab, expanding resources and opportunities for students in the program.

“Raise Some L helps keep UofL accessible and affordable, fuels breakthrough research, enhances medical care and drives our momentum as a leading metropolitan research university,” said Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement Vice President Jim Broschart. “We are profoundly grateful to the alumni, faculty, staff and friends who answer the call year after year. Your generosity makes it all possible.”

To learn more, make a gift or become a Raise Some L advocate, visit .

Campus Events & Student Energy

The Student Organization for Alumni Relations (SOAR) and the Student Activities Board (SAB) will host Raise Some L block parties on the Belknap and HSC campuses on Wednesday, Oct. 22, from 12-2 p.m., featuring snacks, games, music and opportunities to get involved. Don’t miss the action at the campus quads and help spread the word using #RaiseSomeL on social media.

Last Year’s Impact

In 2024, more than 2,000 donors gave an incredible $5.4 million to support UofL, UofL Health and UofL Athletics. For the fourth consecutive year, Cardinal family members from all 50 states took part, showing the nation what it means to Raise Some L.

To see what else is happening during Homecoming week, visit

Second Lieutenant Pavel Buechter was commissioned in 2023 and is currently stationed at Vandenberg Space Force Base in central California, where he is a mission integrator with the 2nd Range Operations Squadron, where he manages and integrates government and commercial launches at Vandenberg.

In this role, he works with contractors like Northrop Grumman, Firefly Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Stratolaunch and SpaceX.

He supports the launch service providers by making sure they abide by range policy and procedures, along with managing their use of government launch infrastructure.

Buechter represents the range and the Space Force to mission partners, and helps establish the path to mission success. His current focus is managing the restoration and revitalization of a launch complex to support its first mission in more than 15 years.

Buechter, who is cross trained as a Range Operations Commander (ROC), has overseen the launch of various commercial SpaceX launch missions.

In 2023, Buechter was awarded the U.S. Space Force quarterly award for commitment. He has also been awarded various team awards for mission integration and nuclear deterrence.

He said his favorite part of the job is getting to be a part of the team that, “launches rockets and puts satellites into orbit to support the warfighter downrange.”

Buechter said he chose UofL because of the fully online master’s degree and how well UofL supports its military-connected students. The program is also offered at a reduced tuition rate, which matches the military tuition assistance rate.

Buechter said his degree will help him better oversee Space Force projects and make him a better leader.

Louisville native and United States Marine Corps veteran John Davis is a senior majoring in .

After attending a small liberal arts college in central Kentucky, Davis decided college was not for him and enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2012, where he served until 2022.��

Davis then enrolled at the J.B. Speed School of Engineering, which he calls the “best engineering school in Kentucky.”

As an infantryman in the Marine Corps, Davis worked his way up to sergeant, infantry squad leader and marksmanship instructor.

After boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina, his first assignment was with the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion in Twentynine Palms, California as a scout.

While assigned to Twentynine Palms he deployed twice to the Pacific. During the first deployment, he was attached to the Combat Assault Battalion in Okinawa. During his second deployment, he was with the Battalion Landing Team of 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment part of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, which embarked aboard the USS Green Bay and the USS Bon Homme Richard.

In addition to Okinawa, Japan, his deployments took him to Thailand and the Philippines.

After reenlisting, Davis was stationed in Virginia at the Formal Marksmanship Training Center as a Designated Marksmanship Instructor. At first, he worked on a range facility on Naval Dam Neck Annex in Virginia Beach.

In 2018, the Formal Marksmanship Training Center’s operations moved to a new range facility aboard Naval Weapons Station Yorktown.

While assigned to the Formal Marksmanship Training Center, Davis’ duties included range safety officer and coach for individual shooters, who ranged from private to general.

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in March 2020, Davis’ unit was the only active Marine Corps range facility on the eastern seaboard.��

This caused the unit to become extremely busy. He recalls working virtually every weekend for the rest of 2020, as reserve units from as far as New York were bused down to meet their numbers.

Davis is married, with two young kids. He is currently working part-time in his third co-op at GE Appliances and anticipates working at GE after graduating from UofL.

Fenton is a U.S. Navy veteran who served onboard the United States ship John F. Kennedy (CV-67) from 1972 to 1978.

During his service onboard the Kennedy, Fenton was part of the “ships company,” and was responsible for the storerooms, which served more than 5,000 sailors.

This included snacks, cigarettes and retail shops as well as the barber shops, dry cleaning, and laundry.

He spent 17 months in the Mediterranean, six months in the Caribbean, and three months in the North Atlantic. Among his favorite memories of his time in the Navy are the countless ports of calls where he was able to interact with residents. In retirement, he has been able to visit many of these same places.

Originally from Trumbull, Connecticut, Fenton, who is also a retired Xerox chief information officer, has been in Louisville since 1995. ��

Fenton is a at UofL, a program that offers students in Kentucky who are 65 years or older the chance to take a select number of classes for free at any state-supported institution. The program, which started in 1976, can count toward a degree or simply be for fun.

Although he has a bachelor of science in computer science and economics, the last 20 years of Fenton’s career were spent as a manager and leader, and he was not actively involved in the hands-on technologies.

Taking classes at the Speed School is helping him achieve his goal of getting educated in newer technologies, he said. Getting back into education was a big change and he has found it to be both challenging and rewarding.

With the knowledge and skills Fenton is gaining in the program, he intends to build tools, games, or applications for mobile.

Fenton said that Ibrahim Imam, an associate professor in the computer science and engineering department, has always been available to help and provide suggestions throughout the program.

He and his wife have four children and eleven grandchildren.

Fenton believes it is very important to continue to learn no matter your age and he is intent on setting a good example for his grandchildren. He said UofL has given him an opportunity to learn something new almost every day.

Eating disorders affect an estimated 9% of Americans — nearly 30 million people — and can impact a person’s eating behaviors and perceptions about food and their bodies. The UofL prototype technology, dubbed Awaken Emerse, helps users virtually face and overcome their associated fears, such as the fear of gaining weight.

“Research shows exposure treatment can be really effective in taking back control over these devastating and life-altering fears,” said Christina Ralph-Nearman, a assistant research professor, researcher and co-inventor of the technology. “Our virtual simulation allows people to do that in a safe way.”��

In a pilot study, Awaken Emerse — invented by Ralph-Nearman and researcher Cheri Levinson — was shown to be effective in helping participants face their fears of gaining weight. The new grant, $125,000 through the NEDA’s Feeding Hope Fund, will support work by the inventors, along with Andrew Karem of the J.B. Speed School of Engineering, to expand the platform to be more inclusive of all body types and sizes, ethnicities, races and gender identities and to further test outcomes in a clinical setting.����

“Eating disorders don’t just affect one type of person — there are a multitude of factors that can influence them,” said Levinson, associate professor and director of the Eating Anxiety Treatment (EAT) Lab. “Treatment and prevention options should reflect that full range of experience.”

The NEDA grant comes on the heels of some $11.5 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support Levinson’s work to better understand and address some of the most devastating effects of eating disorders. That research will investigate how eating disorders may develop in childhood and adolescence, their contribution to suicidal behaviors and how innovative personalized treatments, like VR simulation, may offer hope.

“Despite the high prevalence of eating disorders, there still aren’t many options for treatment and prevention,” she said. “This work will not only create new options by leveraging technology, but open previously unopened doors for treating people on a personal, individual level.”

Work to develop the VR technology has also been supported by the UofL Office of Research and Innovation’s intellectual property and new ventures teams. This includes patenting, coaching by entrepreneur-in-residence Alice Shade, and training and financial support through two innovation development programs: KYNETIC, focused on furthering biomedical technologies, and PRePARE, focused on technologies that address a health or societal problem resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lori Porter, Afi H. Tagnedji and Christopher Trombley bring to 10 the total number of UofL students who have won the award, established in 1986 in honor of former U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater.

Goldwater Scholars are awarded a maximum of $7,500 per academic year. To be eligible, students must be sophomores or juniors who intend to pursue a research career in natural science, mathematics or engineering.

Porter, of Campbellsburg, Kentucky, is a physics and astronomy major in the College of Arts & Sciences and a . She works with Benne Holwerda studying void galaxies and, in addition, at the Flatiron Institute in New York City, conducts astrophysical research on galaxy formation and evolution with UofL alumna Blakesley Burkhart and her postdoctoral scholar, Matt Orr.��

“Studying these natural phenomena of our universe has fascinated me since elementary school, and I look forward to continuing this research under the support of the Goldwater Scholarship,” she said.

Tagnedji is an A&S chemistry and biochemistry double major who is both a and a . A native of Togo in west Africa, Tagnedji hopes to earn an MD and PhD in pharmacology and genetics.��

“The Goldwater affirms my standing as an undergraduate researcher and scientist in training,” she said. “It’s an honor.”

Tagnedji is conducting breast cancer research as well as research in insulin-resistance. Her mentors are David W. Hein, Mark P. Running, Kyung U. Hong and Linda Fuselier.

A student leader who was executive director of the Student Government Association’s Engage Lead Serve Board, she was also one of four UofL students to serve on the first student advisory board for Kentucky’s Council on Postsecondary ����ֱ��.

Trombley, the third 2022 recipient, double majors in computer science engineering in the J.B. Speed School of Engineering and mathematics in A&S.

His mentors are Dan Popa, Mehmed Kantardzic and Nik Chawla.

“I plan to use this award to continue my research at the on intelligent robots and computer vision under the mentorship of Dan Popa and Mehmed Kantardzic,” he said. “We are currently working on a mobile robot that uses computer vision and machine learning technology to autonomously disinfect rooms.”

Trombley plans to spend the summer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology conducting research on intelligent algorithms at the Center for Brains, Minds and Machines. His goal is to eventually earn a PhD.

“The University of Louisville and the J.B. Speed School of Engineering helped me grow into the researcher I am today, and I am extremely thankful for the unparalleled experience the University of Louisville and Speed School have to offer,”�� he said.

That work will be part of the 2022 , a free and open-to-the-public national celebration of arts, science and innovation across Atlantic Coast Conference universities and the Smithsonian Institution. The two exhibits from UofL are:

• , focusing on NASA-sponsored UofL research, dubbed the w“Aqueous Immersion Surgical System” (AISS). This system provides wound containment for astronauts needing surgical treatment on extended space missions, and last year, was tested in weightlessness as a payload aboard a suborbital space flight by Virgin Galactic. The UofL research team includes professor George Pantalos (School of Medicine) and assistant professor Tommy Roussel (J.B. Speed School of Engineering), along with students Dalton Aubrey, Kessalyn Kelly and Sienna Shacklette.
• , an art and tech installation that engages with issues on
  

  

  
  drones, domestication and the non-human. The ‘Floating Room’ is composed of household products ‘floating’ because they are semi-autonomous drones. These floating objects maintain their conventional function while also aerodynamically traversing their airspace; for example, a lamp can both fly and emit light and a clock can both fly and tell time. The UofL team includes artist and assistant professor Samuel Swope (Hite Art Institute), along with students Mahika Gupta, Kelsey Shaw-Kaufman and Shachaf Polakow.

“There’s a lot happening at UofL with the potential for huge public impact across a range of disciplines, and this is a great opportunity to showcase that work,” said Paul DeMarco, interim director of UofL’s Office of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activity in the Center for Engaged Learning, and a professor of psychological and brain sciences. DeMarco, who plans to attend, organized UofL’s involvement and oversaw the proposal process for the student-faculty teams involved.

Kevin Gardner, UofL’s executive vice president of research and innovation, said the UofL work being exhibited at this year’s ACCelerate Festival is proof-positive of the university’s commitment to exploration and shattering established paradigms.

“UofL faculty, staff and students are incredible engines of innovation and creativity,” he said. “These projects are great examples of that strength, and we’re excited to join our ACC colleagues and share that work with the world.”

Recognizing a need��

“The J.B. Speed School of Engineering and the Kentucky Autism Training Center share a common purpose,” said KATC Executive Director Dr. Larry Taylor. “That is to provide a supportive environment that enables students with autism to achieve their goals, and those goals vary with the individual needs, wants and desires of each student.”

This collaboration, believed to be the only of its kind in the country to specifically pair engineering studies and students with autism, involves a veritable village of support from KATC partnered with Speed School’s student services from advising to co-op to faculty and staff, as well as external supports such as the Disability Resource Center and Vocational Rehab services. KATC is a university-based program with a legislative mandate to enhance outcomes for all Kentuckians with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Housed at the University of Louisville’s College of ����ֱ�� and Human Development, KATC provides hands-on training for educators in the classroom, hosting workshops for families, and conducting professional development sessions.

The partnership with Speed School took root in 2017 when Mike Miller, KATC’s Family Field Training coordinator, was asked by Heidi Neal, director of Student Success and Strategic Initiatives, to present to Speed School faculty and advisors about the holistic and evidence-based educational services and strategies KATC can provide to assist students with ASD.

“Engineering is a perfect fit for kids with autism,” said Miller. “Studies often involve individualized work in silos and they don’t have to communicate with a lot of people. The main subject areas like math and science are their bailiwicks.”

Miller, a native of Murray, Kentucky, is a professional educator whose expertise in autism has helped UofL lead the charge to help engineering students with autism become more self-sufficient, independent, and then graduate and find employment. A self-proclaimed “off-the-wall instructor,” Miller is tremendously passionate about his job and the group of 12 engineering students he is working with this year.

Miller utilizes evidence-based strategies that accommodate the unique way that students with autism may process information. “They are rule followers, they want structure and want someone to say, ‘This is what you have to do. When advisors ask students to select from a choice of flight plans, for example, they say aren’t you supposed to be deciding that?” said Miller.

Graduate student Ben Mitchell shows Dr. Kunal Kate the status of his lab project.

“A student with autism might want to go into a lab group project and say, ‘You sit here, I’ll do the work and get us an A. You are all incompetent,” Miller said. “Of course, that’s not going to win many friends.”

But once Miller introduced “14 Steps to Doing a Lab” that instilled structure into the process, it helped the students understand their responsibilities while tempering the all-or-nothing approach students with autism might tend to employ.

Miller meets with his students weekly and in each year he asks students to do some things out of their comfort zone to help them grow and mature.

“For freshmen year, it’s join an academic club in their major, sophomore year a social club, and junior year, it’s volunteer work in the community,” he said. Miller and the students also work on incidental conversations by picking a professor to initiate a conversation with. “They don’t like sarcasm and humor because they don’t understand it, so we work on that, too. It’s the little things. They don’t know how to advocate for themselves because their parents have generally taken care of everything for them.”

To an untrained eye, Miller’s strategies might seem unconventional and even a little odd, but his evidence-based methods help students and produce results.��

Making a difference for students��

Ben Mitchell today is not the same kid as the freshman who walked into Miller’s office.

“We started off meeting (with Mike Miller) during my freshman year one or two times per week to help me develop some social and communication strategies I could use to help advocate for myself in difficult situations,” said Mitchell, now a graduate student in mechanical engineering.

“As a freshman, I saw the immense challenges before me in my early courses and something within me really wanted to rise to that challenge,” said Mitchell. “I wanted to see if by reaching out and asking for the knowledge and expertise of those around me, such as my peers, my professors, tutors over at REACH, I would be able to reach new heights that I never thought I’d be capable of.”

What Mitchell found in his academic career at Speed School was his highly analytical brain was an asset.��

“As I’ve progressed through my mechanical engineering courses at Speed School it’s useful for me to be able to think single-mindedly, objectively, analytically about these more abstract situations – to be able to look at things like differential equations and realize that there’s usually one or two different solution methods that allow me to always get to that right answer that we’re looking for,” said Mitchell. Along with his academic success, Mitchell has expanded his social world, recently discovering the Cardinal Marching Band.

Ben Mitchell challenged himself to learning to play the baritone well enough to audition for the Cardinal Marching Band.

“I wanted to see if I could play music like my parents do as my own personal hobby,” said Mitchell. “Thanks to the analytical pattern recognition skills I developed at Speed School advanced social skills that Mike’s helped me learn I have been given the honor of performing multiple scores from memory as a baritone player at every home game for the UofL Football team this season.”

Mitchell said Miller has been a wonderful friend as well as mentor. “From phone conversations to face-to-face talks, Dr. Mike Miller has had the pleasure of shaping my journey as I grew from a young freshman into a seasoned master’s student preparing to graduate from the University of Louisville.”

Collaboration brings multi-disciplinary supports

Miller’s success with autistic engineering students has not happened in a vacuum, nor has it been overnight. In fact, Miller said it is the teamwork and collaboration with Speed School that has been the key to success.

Speed School advising, co-op and faculty work closely with Miller and KATC to ensure holistic services for students with autism.

Academic Counselor, Sr., Jen Zoller, who has been with Speed School for more than seven years, said Mike Miller has been a “godsend.”

“He’s an incredible resource,” said Zoller. “I have an immense amount of respect for Mike and the solid and genuine relationships he forms with students.”

An advisor’s role is to talk to students about what classes they are taking, challenges or struggles, what requirements they need for their degree and so forth.

“We do this with all students but students who identify on the spectrum do have other challenges,” Zoller said. “Our institutions intrinsically are designed around the white hetero-normative male, and anyone outside of those parameters may have struggles navigating these systems that aren’t built for them.”

Zoller said Miller can provide that extra layer of support and individualized attention these students may need to be successful. For example, many students with autism don’t drive due to anxiety and Miller can help with driving lessons or understanding the TARC bus system.

“His approach with the students is very similar to mine. He has a challenge and support style, a problem solver cheering for them but not sugar coating things. He keeps them accountable. Coming to college is not just about getting a degree, but becoming an adult,” Zoller said.��

“This collaboration with KATC works because the people at Speed School – my co-workers in Office of Student Success, Admissions and Advising – we are all very passionate and committed to student success,” she added. “We get fired up about it and if we see something not student-friendly we will speak up about it, remove unintentional barriers and make it a better experience for our students.”

Mary Andrade, director of Co-op and Career Services, said she too believes that a successful collaboration comes from the right place – “a place of caring about our students. Our advising, co-op, admissions staffs – we all want to see these students as engineers, so we communicate, come to the table, put in time, effort, attention. To me, that’s what collaboration is – people who care coming together to support students that need it.”

Andrade works closely with Miller, meeting with students to develop a case plan tailored to their needs, and supporting them throughout the placement process and in the workplace setting.

Andrade praised the Autism Training Center’s commitment to Speed School students.

“Mike’s central to their success and their willingness to let Mike put his time specifically to [Speed] students makes all the difference.�� I couldn’t do this on my own – he’s the glue that holds all this together … He has advocated for these students on every level. We appreciate that the training center has done that. It’s a model for the entire country,” Andrade said.��

This collaboration between Speed School and KATC also relies on the referrals and instructional support of Speed School faculty. Miller said one example of how he has worked with faculty is when a student may be headed for an emotional meltdown in class, they now have a designated place to walk out and an amount of time to cool down before returning, whereas previously it was disruptive to the class. While the flexibility of Office Hours TBD may appeal to most students, those with autism struggle with the ambivalence, so Miller worked with instructors to accommodate.

Dr. Ibrahim Imam, Associate Professor for Computer Science and Engineering, who taught Ben Mitchell, said that for students with autism, there are certain considerations that faculty have to be aware of to just facilitate their success.

“They just need a little extra. Sometimes it might be an extra 10 minutes on an exam or they need to work in different circumstances, like maybe they like to be in a room by themselves. Once the faculty becomes aware of it, it is very easy to work with the student and to facilitate their success,” he said.

Imam said seeing students with autism grow and succeed is very rewarding: “Oh, this is like the cherry on top, I enjoy teaching very much, and that’s why I’m here. It’s even more gratifying to see these students through.”

Giving all students tools to succeed

UofL has embraced a commitment to diversity in all its forms, though it may not be top of mind to recognize ASD as such.

“It’s very important that Speed School recognizes atypical neuro development as something that makes a place diverse,” Zoller said. “We typically think of diversity as race, ethnicity, perhaps gender identity, but in the last five years neuro-divergence is being recognized as also making a place diverse and unique. It’s important to appreciate all the uniqueness of individuals and how those differences should be celebrated, especially in engineering, which is global.”

Essentially, what engineering boils down to as a profession in a simplified definition is problem solving. We need people from diverse backgrounds and with unique perspectives that may look at a problem differently and solve it better.��

“I don’t believe the world of work in engineering has been as embracing of diversity as it should have been in the past, added Andrade, “but diversity is coming.”

Beyond the classroom��

��

Milo, a social robot, is used for research in working with children with autism in the Louisville Automated Robotic Research Institute, (LARRI)

The collaboration between Speed School student services and KATC is not the only way Speed School is making a difference in the autism community. Research being conducted at the Louisville Automated Robotic Research Institute, (LARRI) may one day make it easier for children with autism to participate in social interactions with peers.

Using kid-friendly robots to teach social interaction, Karla Welch, associate professor, Electrical & Computer Engineering, is leading research funded jointly by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

“The goal is to do research on the next generation of robots for human robot interaction, specifically for working in interventions for children with autism,” she said. “We focus on social interaction, because that’s a hallmark of something that is difficult for children with autism – initiating social interaction, asking appropriate questions as well as responding to questions, and if they’re not interested in the topic, they might not give any response.”

Welch adds that it’s a little more comforting or less challenging for children with autism to interact with a robot, especially because of the technology’s simplified facial features and facial expressions

“Human faces can be very expressive, can be unpredictable. Initially, for children with autism, there doesn’t seem to be this apprehension of interacting with robots, because it’s less stimulus,” she said.

Welch said the mission is also to make a robot that can adapt to different people.

“While we’re kind of focused on children with autism, there’s some variety within that subject pool because we recognize that as humans there’s a lot of individuality, and that is also true for those who are neurotypical,” she said.

Culture of caring

Whether it’s marshalling the efforts of many to ensure college students with autism are successful or researching autism in younger children to intervene earlier to enhance social learning, UofL is looking to create a better world for people with autism. Miller said he has been overwhelmed by how dedicated Speed School is to its students, and explained one of the times he realized the extent of that commitment. When Ben Mitchell was preparing for an overseas travel opportunity and needed a birth certificate from California that seemed destined not to arrive in time, Speed School Dean Emmanuel Collins offered to fly with Ben to California and then to Chicago so he could get his passport.

“That was when I thought, ‘wow, they really care about these students,” he said.��

Check out more about the relationship between .

The masks are being developed using nanomaterial research at the Conn Center, a J.B. Speed School of Engineering center that usually focuses on commercializing innovations in solar energy storage, biofuels, solar fuels and energy efficiency. Researchers saw an opportunity to use their innovative work to help provide low-cost, effective personal protective equipment (PPE) for health care workers.

Unlike currently available N95 masks, which cannot be reused without special decontamination procedures, these cost-effective nanofilter masks can be easily washed, dried and reused.

They are made using inorganic nanowires impregnated into a woven polymer cloth with a minimum efficiency reporting value (MERV) of 15 that together form a porous network whose openings are too small for viral particles to pass through. Current N95 masks rely on an electrostatic charge on polymer fiber cloth to capture nuisance particles such as dust, mold and pollen. This method may not be effective with liquid droplets or viral pathogens and doesn’t offer any disinfection capabilities.

The titania and zinc oxide nanowire materials that form the nanofilter are also capable of absorbing ultraviolet (UV) light, a benefit of their adoption from the renewable energy research at Conn Center. The filters can be disinfected using a low energy UV light source, helping to reduce PPE costs in hospitals.

The partnership includes Ed Tackett, director of workforce development at AMIST, and chemical engineering Professor Mahendra Sunkara, director of the Conn Center. Sunkara co-founded ADEM in 2010 with his wife, CEO Vasanthi Sunkara, to scale up energy materials innovations from his work at the university.

Since then, ADEM has scaled up manufacturing of nanowire materials from grams at a time to ton scale. “Producing bulk quantities is a considerable challenge in translating a new material from laboratory to marketplace,” Mahendra Sunkara said. “In the lab, we only make very small amounts to test and study, but tons per day are required for meeting commercial demand.”

Tackett and Sunkara realized a growing PPE challenge as the COVID-19 pandemic has unfolded.

“How do we as Kentucky respond to multiple waves of disease and low case rate due to success of ‘stay safe’ measures?” Tackett said. “We are all working together to keep the rate of incidence low, but that also means we will have difficulty in priority purchasing for PPE since Kentucky isn’t a hotspot. Our solution is making them here instead of buying elsewhere.”

The manufacturing method for the masks is adopted from Conn Center’s roll-to-roll printing techniques used in battery electrode and solar cell fabrication. The availability of materials at quantity and adapted expertise made this nanofiltered cloth innovation possible.

“The shortage of protective gear during this pandemic has made us rethink our strategy to utilize ADEM’s nanowire materials for PPE,” said Vasanthi Sunkara. “It just shows that with the right connections, expertise and resources, the university and industry can come together quickly to move innovation through manufacturing and into the market to affect this challenge head-on.”

Prototype testing on the nanofilters is underway. Once validated, the next steps are to set up manufacturing in two types of facilities. The first is a large-scale, roll-to-roll printing operation for making the nanofilter cloth. The second is a forming and assembly line to make flat filters and ready-to-wear N95-style respirators.

ADEM in conjunction with Conn Center will produce both flat filters and respirators right away. The center can produce thousands over the next two months until automated production equipment is put in place for mass production at several million per year. AMIST and the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development are looking at what is needed to build the mask-making capacity for Kentucky.

Funding for this phase has been made possible by Hank and Rebecca Conn, benefactors of the Conn Center. The gift is intended to be matched by donors who want to help during the COVID-19 crisis.

“It is the right thing to do,” said Hank Conn. “Conn Center technologies are intended for renewable energy but can impact the immediate health crisis. We are giving this innovation early support that it may reach a commercialization partner for the good of us all.”